Neha Tyagi v. Lieutenant Colonel Deepak Tyagi
Background
A Family Court in Jaipur had dissolved the marriage between an Army officer and his wife on grounds of cruelty and desertion by the wife, a decision later upheld by the Rajasthan High Court. The wife appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing in the alternative that even if the divorce stood, the findings of "cruelty" against her should be removed and that she and her minor son needed ongoing maintenance, since the husband had stopped paying it and had since remarried despite a court-ordered status quo.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court declined to disturb the concurrent findings of cruelty and desertion reached by both lower courts, since these were based on appreciation of evidence. However, noting that the couple had been separated since 2011 (amounting to an irretrievable breakdown of marriage) and that the husband had already remarried, the Court used its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to confirm the divorce without further revisiting the merits. Importantly, it held that a father's duty to maintain his child continues regardless of the marital dispute, and directed the husband to pay Rs. 50,000 per month in maintenance for the son, with arrears to be paid within eight weeks and future payments deducted directly from his Army salary.
Lesson Learnt
A child's right to maintenance from a parent survives the end of a marriage entirely: courts will enforce this obligation directly against a parent's salary if necessary, irrespective of who was at fault in the divorce.